Some of you know that I host a second podcast dedicated to reviewing fringe and paranormal topics using peer-reviewed literature. It’s called PEERANORMAL. I have four co-hosts. We occasionally invite field experts depending on the topic. We’re 16 episodes...
New Age
Were the Ancient Gnostics Great Intellectuals?
Here’s one New Testament scholar (Larry Hurtado, recently retired, Univ. of Edinburgh) who laughs at the idea. I’d agree with him (and I like reading western esotericism). If you think they’re intellectual elites, you’ve been watching too much...
Modern Nephilim Nonsense: A Comparison Chart
For those Christian readers out there (and anyone else who follows this subject), I recently saw this essay come up in my Twitter account (thanks to Guy Malone for tweeting it). The “modern nephilim” idea — that there is currently either a military...
Modern Mythology of the Precession of the Equinoxes
I’d like to alert PaleoBabble readers to Jason Colavito’s series on the modern myth of precession. Â Here are the first and second posts. For those to whom the term “precession” is new, as Jason notes, it is the idea that our lives are...
Hippies Waiting for Alien Ark for 2012 Rescue
I think I’ve seen this in a movie. Camper loads of happily deluded new-age pilgrim-hippies (pippies sounds like a good term to coin here) have descended upon the Pyrenean village of Bugarach, where a mountain overshadowing the tiny hamlet has been labeled the...
Of Starseeds and Hayseeds
I wanted to call the attention of readers to this informative and humorous post from Skeptophilia entitled, “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Starseed.” The post is about the nonsensical new-age fantasy maintained by some people that they are actually...
Think You're An Alien?
The idea that there are people out there who think they are “starseeds” with tragic amnesia about their extraterrestrial heritage wasn’t new to me. But it may be to readers, who don’t have the benefit of having listened to thousands of hours of...
2012 Mythology for Dummies
A nice explanation of where all the 2012 silliness comes from. Editor's note: as outdated at this post is, it's a good exercise in seeing how people will see patterns and get married to a view of eschatology and end times and prophecy.
A “New” Spirituality Inspired by UFOs?
You’ll be interested in this recent post by UFO Digest (authored by Michael Cohen). Cohen’s observations range from the “insightful, but it’s obvious” to the propagandistic level of “sweeping generalization.” Some examples:...
The 2012 Phenomenon: New Age Appropriation of an Ancient Mayan Calendar
Such is the title of this sixteen page academic essay from Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions. It is very worthwhile reading. The author discusses, among others, John Major Jenkins’ ideas about 2012.  Here’s the abstract:...